Lifestage, Inc is a training and consulting company that has offered professional development workshops and classes and workplace wellness programs for the past 25 years, specializing in creative, experiential methods that are firmly grounded in scientific evidence. We are highly trained in experiential methods, including psychodrama, Applied Improvisation, and Interactive Theater in clinical and education settings, and train health care, medical, education and business professionals in applications of these methods.

CANCELLATION POLICY: If Lifestage cancels an event for any reason, fees are refunded in full. Lifestage will refund the full fee to a participant who cancels up to 48 hours before the event. Within 48 hours of the event the fee less $25 will be refunded. Fees are not refunded for no-shows, but if pre-registered participants are unable to attend and contact Lifestage, their fees will be credited to a future event of their choice.

Lifestage, Inc, SW CPE is recognized by the New York State Education Department's Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #0270. All the training workshops listed below are approved for Continuing Education hours for social workers.

Exploring The Growth Mindset Through Applied Improvisation
4 CE hours for social workers approved by NYS

This workshop is for therapists, educators or others who work with people in the process of learning and change. We will discuss the research into the "growth" mindset and how it can impact work with individuals and groups and how to apply improv games and exercises to different client or student groups.
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The human need to reach out to and connect with others is a primary driver behind our behavior. Empathy, intuition, and other emotionally-driven social cues are integral to to learning and success. Social-emotional Learning techniques can be used in classes and groups to empower clients and students in their ability to connect, communicate and create in collaboration with other people. Through social-emotional experiences we change our brain, and Applied Improvisation is one of the most engaging and effective methods to deepen positive learning.
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Exploring The Stages Of Change Through Applied ImprovisationThis workshop provides 4 CE hours of Continuing Education approved by NYS for social workers.

The Transtheoretical Model of behavior change is a research-based and evidence-based approach to psychotherapy and clinical work in general. The studies demonstrate that interventions and conversations matched to a person's degree of readiness work best, reduce the sense of threat that is easily triggered at the early stages and help work through the ambivalence and complexity of any behavior change.

Applied Improvisation is an experiential method also used throughout the world in business, health care and education that is especially useful for fine-tuning our ability to assess a person's stage of readiness to change and adapt our interventions to match it.READ MORE

Creating A Climate For Communication in Science and Medicine Through Improvisation

Applied Improvisation is a creative method for getting very smart people who do important work to improve their ability to convey knowledge and expertise to the people impacted by it. But it is fundamentally a way to become better at all human interaction. In every area of life, we are always impacting and being impacted by others. Alan Alda - who provided the keynote address at the 2017 Applied Improvisation World Conference in Irvine, CA - created the Alan Alda Center For Communicating Science at Stonybrook University where he uses improv games and exercises he learned years ago to develop as an actor to train scientists, doctors and researchers to be more effective communicators. read article

Fearful of Change? Improv Can Help

The more threatened and fearful we tend to be, the harder it is to say ?yes? to what is new and unfamiliar. We may recognize that change is always just around the corner. We might even know that change can be exactly what we need. But there are fears that must be faced and skills for facing them can be learned. read article

IMPROV RULES: Social-Emotional Development From The Classroom To The Consulting Room Through Applied Improvisation

This is the handout created for a workshop given at the Applied Improvisation Network World Conference at the University of Irvine-CA in August 2017.
The skills that produce improv "magic" - where what happens onstage is so connected and inspired that it seems to have been written and rehearsed in advance - are the same skills we use to in groups and classes where important learning will take place. These skills begin to develop from the very first, most basic exposure to the games and exercises through which we learn the rules that guide improvised interactions. These rules can only be learned through direct social-emotional experience, and because every experience we have changes our brain, the kinds of skills cultivated through improv training translate into strengthening substantive and essential relationship and thinking competencies.. read article